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Shox Makes A Surprising Exit From His Self-Founded Team

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Shox Makes A Surprising Exit From His Self-Founded Team

The former Vitality and G2 star has left Nakama Esports in less than four months after co-founding it 

Richard “shox” Papillon, who has won several S-tier titles with Vitality and G2, has left Nakama Esports, a team he co-founded in January. The 30-year-old, however, has no plans to retire from competitive Counter-Strike as of now. 

The Frenchman revealed that he had initially been passionate about the project at the beginning of 2023 but had eventually decided to prioritize his gaming career. Shox revealed in a Twitlonger post that managing the club required significant financial investments and energy that he could have otherwise used for personal development. As a result, he plans to find a new team to compete with in the future, leaving Nakama Esports to find a new leader to take the organization forward.

Nakama set their sights on qualifying for the Paris Major finals, but they failed to qualify for the European RMRs of the competition. The team announced their roster in January. Four months fast forward and they have two vacancies to fill in the squad now. Besides shox, Jayson “Kyojin” Nguyen Van has also left the team. 

Nakama, however, confirmed that both players have agreed to play as stand-ins before the team lands permanent replacements for them. Therefore, shox and Kyojin will play for Nakama at ESEA Advanced Europe Season 45.